Insight Vacations Reviews

I would certainly recommend this tour. It covers the whole country and it is a country of contrasts, from the Algarve in the south to the Duoro valley in the north. They are two very different geographies. The hotels were comfortable and there was plenty of food. There was also plenty of walking. Bring comfortable walking shoes with you.

There were ...read more many highlights, even if some were a bit of a challenge: try wine tasting at 9.15 am. The three that stood out for me were the Capela dos Ossos with its skulls, bones and the mummified remains of a young women and a child; the cork factory; and the Templar Castle and Convent of Christ in Tomar. The local guides were excellent, especially the local guide in Tomar.

Criticisms are few. The time in Lisbon was limited and our tour director probably spent more time talking about his real estate adventures and the unreliability of Portuguese tradesmen than was necessary. And if you use a face washer (or face cloth), bring one with you, because they aren’t supplied in the hotels.

Jemma Rosen, as always, provided the service I’ve come to expect from Global Journeys, but excelled when it came to a major problem with Lufthansa’s cancelled flights and difficulties with alternative flights. She had the problem sorted in a very short time.

It was my first Insight Vacation and it was even better than I thought it would be. Exceptional accommodation, an awesome tour director and for me, just long enough at 11 days. It was more full on than I thought, we were shattered by the end of each day but will know to really study for next time. Our tour group were fun, from across the globe and ...read more for many it was their 4th, 5th or more tour. I will definitely book again!

Overall the trip was amazing. Probably better than we had even hoped for. There was so much to see every day and it never got old. The guide in each country was excellent. Each had an amazing knowledge of each place we visited and could answer almost any question. The accommodation was good and the coach travel was comfortable and we felt safe and ...read more well cared for. Highlights for us were Bethlehem in Israel, Petra in Jordan and Karnak Temple & Abu Simbel in Egypt.

We felt the Egypt section could have been improved with some changes to schedule. On day one we arrived at the hotel at 6pm and had to be packed, ready to leave at 3.30am to catch the 6am flight to Luxor. The optional flight to Abu Simbel was more than 7 hours later which meant a rushed trip to the site and arrival back at the boat at 10.30pm for a buffet dinner! On our last day in Luxor, we toured all day then returned to the boat for 2 hours before catching the 10pm flight to Cairo. It ran 90 minutes late, the coach was not waiting for us in Cairo and we finally got to the hotel at 2.30am. People were tired and still had 2 days of touring in Cairo.

Travelling with Insight for the first time was a joy; our accommodation was of a high standard and all were centrally located. The tour director Gwen was very personable and did a great job, and our tour companions were also very friendly and a mix of nationalities.

Our main goal was to see the fabled Aurora Borealis and we managed to see it once ...read more (at North Cape), which was satisfactory. Most of our fellow travellers however were disappointed there weren't many more sightings despite having necessary favourable weather conditions a few times (clear, cloudless skies and sufficient solar activity), but Mother Nature was not cooperative. Just going to the northern parts of Norway above the Arctic Circle was special enough for us, as Honningsvag, Alta, and Tromsø were all unique and spectacular places to be, especially in winter (or close enough to it) with a snowy landscape.

Overall, I would recommend this tour, but don't have too many expectations of seeing the Northern Lights night after night. Just enjoy this part of the world for all it has to offer, and it's a lot!

Overall we enjoyed our tour in Spain. We loved the country and acquired a lot of interesting information about it from our tour guide and from the local guides we also used along the way. We felt that the company did a good job of highlighting as much of the country as possible in the time available. The coach was comfortable and the accommodation was ...read more good.
However, there are a couple of aspects of the tour we would like reviewed by the operators. The first is the group dinners. Overall they were disappointing. I don’t believe the food was the best Spanish restaurants have to offer … and the way it was served to such a large group wasn’t pleasant either. We felt like we were a nuisance … and so the faster the food’s served and finished, the better. Probably one group dinner together would be sufficient. Surely this would also mean a fairer distribution of business in each location? And I’m quite sure the quality and value for money would be better.

The ‘optional extras’ were the other aspect of the tour I didn’t like. If something is worth seeing in a particular city, then include it in the tour. Why make it an ‘extra’? Of course I understand that every important site or monument can’t be included in a ‘highlights’ tour, but if the inclusions are listed then the customer knows what they are signing up for. By all means leave the occasional free afternoon or morning (I’m not saying we should have every second filled) but when it’s free time just make it free time. Overall I felt these ‘optional extras’ were more about the company creating more revenue.

The tour guide and driver were really lovely. These people do a good job … I hope the tour operators adequately remunerate them (because in the tour information there is a lot made of the tipping, and how essential it is etc … the implication being that we need to help the company to supplement their salaries). Surely tipping is at the discretion of the customer, without the percentage or amount being suggested by the company in their tour notes?

The tour itself was great. There were many highlights especially for those who love the buildings, culture and art of Ancient Egyptians. The Nile cruise was wonderful and food good. There is one hitch. Transfers at Cairo airport, the pickup is not at the Arrival Hall but at the area before the Immigration. For travellers especially jet lagged travellers ...read more who after after 21 hours flight from Australia can easily not notice it. Insight informed travellers that the pickup was at Arrival Hall or outside depending on Covid restrictions. I had before the trip, enquired with my advisor to confirm the pickup point. Sadly she said there was no reply from Insight. It was a dent in my holiday because I was not informed of the pickup point, walked pass it and had to take local taxi and paid US 30 dollars!!!

The trip was excellent in terms of the locations visited. The markets were great to see but can get rather repetitive after the second or third one. One downside is that there isn't much time for exploring the other sites in the cities. To make the most of the journey I would recommend planning some additional sites to see yourself at each of the d ...read moreestinations.

I’ve just enjoyed the most marvellous trip. Having never been to Italy before, and as a solo traveler, this Treasures of Italy journey was perfect. Whilst we definitely got to enjoy so much of Italy it was managed well with most stays being two nights and enough down time along the way. Elena, our Tour Director, along with the Wellness Director, Flip, ...read more made the trip perfect - making adjustments as required along the way to cater for individual needs or impacts of weather. I do think it’s great that a number of the experiences are optional meaning that you need to pay extra IF you want to do them. It allows you more flexibility.

This was my first coach tour but certainly won’t be my last - and definitely with Insight! I loved that the accommodation was all in ideal locations and a few were positively lux! The group all got along extremely well. I feel 10 days is a good amount of time. We were all ready to move on. I also appreciated the way Hannah at Global Journeys made the booking process seamless - as we needed to change plans for which trip I was going on. Thank you Hannah, Global Journeys and Insight! Till next time!

Treasures of Turkey was a very comprehensive tour. Our Tour Director was excellent and so enthusiastic in sharing so much of his knowledge with our group. He kept it all extremely interesting although it might have been a bit of an overload of history to try and remember (buy the books as you travel along). The hotels were well located, some a little ...read more better than others, but all very good. The food, although not always to my taste, was very acceptable. But only 1 glass of wine with dinner? Altogether a well worthwhile trip.

This tour was an excellent start for someone who had never visited Scotland before. Guide Caroline was most knowledgeable and helpful always. The group was rather one sided - 33 North Americans and 1 Australian (me!) The accommodation was excellent. The day we spent on the Orkney Isles was the highlight of the trip for me,
Georgie from Global Journeys ...read more always replied to my queries promptly and I will certainly use them again for future trips.

Both trips with Insight and our river cruise with Uniworld were excellent. The accommodations with Insight were outstanding and the tour director did an excellent job. Uniworld crew did a superb job and all meals on board were world class.

This was an amazing trip. I thoroughly enjoyed it all but especially Alberobello and Matera. We had wonderful weather, an excellent driver and a knowledgeable tour director. The hotels were good and I enjoyed the optional experiences and dinners. It was great staying several nights in each place as it gave time to explore and was less tiring. A great ...read more trip.

Overall, booking our holiday through Global Journeys was very smooth going, thanks to the good service extended by Hannah Campbell. We have had a wonderful time travelling with Insight Vacations, interacting with so many friendly nationalities across the globe. The Itinerary was however a bit tight and tiring after journeying the long hours on the road. ...read more Hotel rooms were relatively small. Time spent in Copenhagen was adequate. Could have another night in Stockholm and Oslo as arrival was late in the evening. Spectacular scenery across Norway. Optional experiences were well selected but bit pricy. Towns like Bergen and Geiranger was exceptionally scenic and should include additional night stay.

A smooth running trip, from pre tour (Georgie was great) to the experience throughout the tour. Happy with the accommodation standards and locations, and tour guide was engaging and helpful. Was pretty full-on throughout the tour as I did all the optional tours...this meant there wasn't much free time. Perhaps some of the optional tours should be included ...read more so it's pre-arranged to save time, like river cruise and gondola trip up the mountain. Overall, loved the tour and would have enjoyed a bit more time in some of the places to explore.

Everything to do with the cruise was excellent, the staff, the ship, daily activities destinations and food. The pre trip service was poor. It took a while for the group to be found at Split airport. The pre-tour service was bad. Day one we were not contacted about what the arrangements were for the following day’s embarkation. Information, when ...read more it was provided on day 2 was confusing, contradictory and it seemed disorganised. I was so annoyed that I withdrew from the information sharing activity when the person arrived. It was warm the day we boarded ship, bit of a trek from the hotel to the wharf. Either get a hotel closer or a minibus. We didn’t need to stay such an expensive hotel, although the staff there were very good.

The Avangard was a well appointed small ship. The crew were superb and so were the meals. Tour director on boat knew his stuff well and did a good job showing us the different towns and cities. Small disappointment was the local guide at Split who did not turn up to pick us up at airport. I had to ring her up to collect our whole group of 9. She only ...read more appeared on day 2 to introduce herself to us. Other than this transfer issue, the rest of our tour was very good.

We found Georgie at Global Journeys excellent. Very helpful and quick to respond to any concerns. We would not hesitate to book with her and Global Journeys again. We had a fabulous trip to Scandinavia with Insight Vacations. The beautiful warm to hot weather seems to follow us where ever we went. Our accommodation was excellent even though the ...read more rooms were quite hot due to the unusually warm weather.

Our guide Lena was well organised, very approachable, helpful and knowlegeable. Lasro our driver was just amazing and was always neat and well groomed. We had a small group of 23. Australians, Canadians and Americans. Couples friends and singles all very nice and punctual. The only negative was the onboard seat rotation which we thought could of been better enforced.

We had the best tour group. Our Tour Director Elisabeth, our driver and, this time, there was also a well being support person, were all excellent in every possible way. Most of the hotels were fabulous in great locations and the country road experience was so special, I didn't want to leave France. I enjoyed the same trip about 5 yrs ago and this ...read more time, it was slightly different, so that was even better. I would highly recommend this particular tour for it's regional experience through the wine growing countryside. However, the only part I wasn't too keen on was Monaco as it's not my style. My favourite area was the south west of France, so green, and the medieval villages are stunning.

We had an amazing trip through Finland and Norway over Christmas and New Year. We travelled with Insight Vacations and found the tour director Lene looked after us very well. Would have loved to spend extra time in Ivalo as I feel one night was not enough. All the hotels were clean and comfortable and the included meals were ok. It was definitely an ...read more experience to spend time in the Arctic Circle at this time of year as there is no real daylight. We were very happy booking through Global Journeys and would not hesitate in doing so again.

Started well then deviated off the itinerary, sleigh ride was a carriage ride, misleading advertising. We only did a short leg of the Glacier Express then hopped onto local trains with long stop overs, bit bewildering. Didn't do the Matterhorn as promised but a smaller mountain, overall a bit of a patchy tour, good then the bad. Tour leader didn't ...read more correspond well.